Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC

Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 77.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,407 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 43,026 shares during the period. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $468,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,396,167,000 after purchasing an additional 930,367 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 339,007,286 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $12,607,681,000 after acquiring an additional 5,910,739 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 175,039,883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,509,733,000 after acquiring an additional 8,171,700 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,151,714,000 after acquiring an additional 4,527,387 shares during the period. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,115,932,000 after acquiring an additional 78,995,341 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.69 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $41.54. 19,250,643 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,358,660. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $40.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.31. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.21. The company has a market cap of $174.65 billion, a PE ratio of 15.04, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.40.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. The firm had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.60 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.40%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 96.38%.

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).